This weekend is all about New England’s fall staple: the apple! Throughout the weekend, you can taste antique apples, tour OSV’s heirloom apple orchards, watch our ox-powered cider mill in action, and see cooking with apples in the households.

Plus, on Saturday, you can join us for our Folk Music and Celebration of Cider! Learn more here.

How do you like them apples?

Did you know that the most common fruit on 19th-century New England farms was the apple? Many farms had orchards containing 100-300 trees! Most of the apple harvest was either dried for cooking or turned into hard cider. While many farm families had plenty of apples, few owned a cider mill. Instead, they would bring their apples to a local Cider Mill, just like the one at Old Sturbridge Village, and pay a fee to use it.

Of course, the apples grown and consumed in the early 19th century are quite different from the ones you will find at the grocery store today. Varieties included Red Streak, Winesap, Harrison, Granniwinkle, Golden Pearmain, and Hagloe Crab. These varieties and more are growing in the Cider Mill Orchard at the Village.